Long flat off-road running near Dublin?

brownian

Training for Donadea, and getting bored of running around PP, Kilgobbet and the Roundwood Reservoir.... can anyone recommend long-distance off-road options within an hour's drive of Blackrock? A 10k look (like Roundwood) would be ok.

There's lots of hilly running in Dublin and Wicklow, but where to go to train for a basically flat long run?

Thanks a lot!

Krusty_Clown

How about Donadea?

sconhome

Marlay Park on the pitches?

Thud

Leopardstown racetrack

Roosterreid

The Curragh

Annie get your Run

Out and back along the seafront is reasonably flat, you could drive to Dunlaoghaire and run from there towards town and back

Edit: sorry I see you're looking for a loop!

averagejoe123

Thud wrote: »

Leopardstown racetrack

They try to stop people doing this. I have been booted out more than once.

BeepBeep67

Not a loop, but Greystones to Wicklow along the coast is pretty flat and 90%+ decent running with options to turn back up to the coast road at Kilcoole, Newcastle and Killoughter.

Krusty_Clown

Marley is a good suggestion, but I find it dead boring after a short while. The Bray Greystones cliff walk is largely flat (with just a few bumps to negotiate), and is only marvelous. Around 5k each way, so a 10k out and back.

Coffee Fulled Runner

But hills are fun.

jamule

Coffee Fulled Runner wrote: »

But hills are fun.

Life is too short to run around avoiding hills

tomwaits48

Bohernabreena waterworks

donnacha

averagejoe123 wrote: »

They try to stop people doing this. I have been booted out more than once.

Was booted off over Xmas - assumed it was due to the racing festival activity. I generally take it in if I'm out early evening and never get hassle.

Kilbogget is an option for you. Relatively flat and circa a 2.1/2.2mile loop if you follow the grass borders. If you cross Johnston Rd and take in pitches behind clonkeen/Deansgrange it'd be closer to a 4.5mile loop.

Edit: just reread op and see you are bored of Kilbogget Why not head down to Shanganagh?

Krusty_Clown

donnacha wrote: »

Kilbogget is an option for you. Relatively flat and circa a 2.1/2.2mile loop if you follow the grass borders. If you cross Johnston Ed and take in pitches behind clonkeen/Deansgrange it'd be closer to a 4.5mile loop.

I think Brownian (who if memory serves, lives beside Kibogget), is tired of it and looking for pastures new.

annapr

What about along the Royal Canal? From Phibsborough/Cross Guns Bridge out of town...? It's a gradual ascent but feels flat.

Or the Dodder?

munsterbear

Head out the canals, used both for training for marathon in Challenge Roth, plenty of parking at various gates and just go as far as you need and double back. Nice and quiet too

Peregrinus

There's always the Phoenix Park. Any number of flat or mostly flat routes.

RayCun

Roundwood reservoir

Bungy Girl

You can get 4-5 miles mainly off road inside the perimeter of St.Annes in Raheny. And extend it by an out and back along the promenade (2 miles each way) or along Dollymount beach and the nature reserve at Bull Wall.

brownian

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

How about Donadea?

Thanks, KC. Would prefer a longer loop than 5k. Also don't want to spoil the surprise on 11.Feb!

brownian

Roosterreid wrote: »

The Curragh

Thought about this. Is there a well-established path that covers much ground, or does one run on the road, or take to the grass?

brownian

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Out and back along the seafront is reasonably flat, you could drive to Dunlaoghaire and run from there towards town and back

Edit: sorry I see you're looking for a loop!

Thank you - but...Too many people. Too many traffic lights or roads to cross. Too many people. The piers are ok, but...

brownian

averagejoe123 wrote: »

They try to stop people doing this. I have been booted out more than once.

me too, once a long time ago...never been back since. Whatever about sneaking in for a quick loop, two hours of running around and around might drive me insane and would certainly bring down a man in a van....

brownian

sconhome wrote: »

Marlay Park on the pitches?

I do like Marlay, but when you're looking to cover 25-35k, I think it's probably too small not to go crazy on...

brownian

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

Not a loop, but Greystones to Wicklow along the coast is pretty flat and 90%+ decent running with options to turn back up to the coast road at Kilcoole, Newcastle and Killoughter.

Thanks, Dom. That might well be worth a shot, esp. if not too windy. Is the other 10% very dodgy? I've three bad ankles at the mo 8-)

brownian

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Marley is a good suggestion, but I find it dead boring after a short while. The Bray Greystones cliff walk is largely flat (with just a few bumps to negotiate), and is only marvelous. Around 5k each way, so a 10k out and back.

Yup, it is nice. But it has too many people on it at the weekend (LSR time), gets nasty and narrow quite often, so one is reduced to walking until squeeze-past time. Otherwise, it's pretty nice, as is the Windgates-BrayHead extension. However, I'd be looking at 3+ repeats, and that might be a massive pain.

brownian

tomwaits48 wrote: »

Bohernabreena waterworks

s

How long of a loop would I get out of it?

brownian

donnacha wrote: »

Was booted off over Xmas - assumed it was due to the racing festival activity. I generally take it in if I'm out early evening and never get hassle.

Kilbogget is an option for you. Relatively flat and circa a 2.1/2.2mile loop if you follow the grass borders. If you cross Johnston Rd and take in pitches behind clonkeen/Deansgrange it'd be closer to a 4.5mile loop.

Edit: just reread op and see you are bored of Kilbogget Why not head down to Shanganagh?

From Deansgrange to Wyattville is very nearly 5k, giving nearly 10k out and back, and about 12k if you do all the fiddly bits. But as KC says, I've run Kilboggett dozens of times, and a change would be nice. Shanganagh is good, but even going back and forth over the railway and doing all the loopy bits, I'm still going to need several laps to clock up 30+ k.

RayCun

How about this - you start in Tymon, run under the M50 into the Dodder Valley park, which brings you to Old Bawn. Cross a junction there, run down Kiltipper road, and at the end of the road, by the nursing home there is a path to Bohernabreena. This map is not quite right, the path in the riverbank park is not a dead end, it brings you all the way to Old Bawn road.
Out and back would be 25-30km, with only a couple of road crossings

brownian

Thanks to all who commented and contributed. I do of course agree that hills are fun - but training specifically for Donadea, with dodgy ankles, post-injury, I'm looking for flat, easy ground if it can be found. Given the distances I want to run, loops of 5K or less get less attractive. I just wanted to pull the responses into one post, for ease of re-use.

The top suggestions, in no particular order, are

- the canals. Not sure where to join the canals, or whether you can run for (say) 20k in any one direction, but worth looking at.
- the coast, south from Greystones, optionally with the Bray Cliff Walk as a (high risk of walking, high beauty) extension
- the Dodder. Not sure where to join the river, or whether you can run for (say) 20k in any one direction, but worth looking at.

Other good places to run in south Dublin include
- Kilboggett
- Marlay
- Shanganagh
- the Dun Laoghaire piers (extending down to Bullock Harbour, Dalkey and so forth, as an option)
- Bohernabreena

Other options
- Leopardstown Racecourse (maybe!)
- Phoenix Park (but not very local for me, at least, and I think the longest loop is a bit less than 10 miles?)
- St Anne's in Raheny (+Dollier and the Bull)
- the Curragh (not local, but potentially a good option for longer runs, if there are off-road trails?)
- Roundwood reservoir (10k, flat, but a solid half hour drive)

Thanks again, folks.

PS the Wicklow Way, Dublin Mountains Way, 3-rock etc etc are of course great options.

BeepBeep67

brownian wrote: »

Thanks, Dom. That might well be worth a shot, esp. if not too windy. Is the other 10% very dodgy? I've three bad ankles at the mo 8-)

A few wave breakers to run across, some shale south of Newcastle and a sandy section south of Killoughter - nothing that you would call extreme, give me a shout if you ever need a guided tour.

Murph_D

Re Phoenix Park, you can extend by exiting at Islandbridge Gate and crossing over to Memorial Park and taking in the Liffey up to Chapelizod, where you can re-enter the park. Doesn't add a lot to the Park perimeter loop in terms of mileage but considerably varies the scenery. The Liffey path is very interesting, especially when there ar rowers on the river (i.e. often). You can easily do 20 miles in PP/Memorial without retracing much (if any) of the route.

belcarra

Murph_D wrote: »

Re Phoenix Park, you can extend by exiting at Islandbridge Gate and crossing over to Memorial Park and taking in the Liffey up to Chapelizod, where you can re-enter the park. Doesn't add a lot to the Park perimeter loop in terms of mileage but considerably varies the scenery. The Liffey path is very interesting, especially when there ar rowers on the river (i.e. often). You can easily do 20 miles in PP/Memorial without retracing much (if any) of the route.

To add even more to this you could exit at Ashtown gate and run to the canal thereby giving lots of path (approx 5km with only one road crossing x 2 directions) and even drop down to Tolka valley park for lots more km with no road crossings. Easy to go more than 40km+ without retracing your steps.

muddypaws

I know its more than an hours drive, but if you fancied a nice day out, for an extra half an hour in the car, Lough Boora in Offaly has lots of flat trails, different surfaces, a great place to run.

http://www.loughboora.com/plan-your-visit/visitor-information/maps-trails/

PaulieC

brownian wrote: »

Thanks to all who commented and contributed. I do of course agree that hills are fun - but training specifically for Donadea, with dodgy ankles, post-injury, I'm looking for flat, easy ground if it can be found. Given the distances I want to run, loops of 5K or less get less attractive. I just wanted to pull the responses into one post, for ease of re-use.

The top suggestions, in no particular order, are

- the canals. Not sure where to join the canals, or whether you can run for (say) 20k in any one direction, but worth looking at.
- the coast, south from Greystones, optionally with the Bray Cliff Walk as a (high risk of walking, high beauty) extension
- the Dodder. Not sure where to join the river, or whether you can run for (say) 20k in any one direction, but worth looking at.

Other good places to run in south Dublin include
- Kilboggett
- Marlay
- Shanganagh
- the Dun Laoghaire piers (extending down to Bullock Harbour, Dalkey and so forth, as an option)
- Bohernabreena

Other options
- Leopardstown Racecourse (maybe!)
- Phoenix Park (but not very local for me, at least, and I think the longest loop is a bit less than 10 miles?)
- St Anne's in Raheny (+Dollier and the Bull)
- the Curragh (not local, but potentially a good option for longer runs, if there are off-road trails?)
- Roundwood reservoir (10k, flat, but a solid half hour drive)

Thanks again, folks.

PS the Wicklow Way, Dublin Mountains Way, 3-rock etc etc are of course great options.

Did you mean off-road as in on a footpath or off-road as in trails ? The canals and the Dodder are not trails, mostly tarmac paths.

You can get on the Grand Canal at Grand Canal Street here (who woulda thunk?) and you can run pretty much as far as you want out and back. There are some roads to cross at the start, but you can keep on the path from Harold's Cross onwards pretty much.

Royal Canal path starts at the Convention Centre, but only for about 500 yards. You then need to run down Seville Place/North Strand Road before joining it again. There are less roads to cross, from memory only at Drumcondra and Phibsborough. I've only gone as far as the M50 bridge, but the path continues...

You can start on the Dodder path at Ringsend Bridge. It follows the river for the most part - there are a few sections, particularly around Donnybrook/Clonskeagh section. There are a few road crossings, but nothing too bad. Donnybrook is probably the worst. I've only gone as far as Rathfarnham from Ringsend, but there are a few parks along the path that you can add in a few laps.